Theatre Bizarre

About

Theatre Bizarre has been the singular, must-see annual event since it launched (illegally) in the early days of the 21st century. Year after year, its creators return with a spectacular event unlike anything else on earth.

Since finding its permanent home at Detroit’s Masonic Temple (the largest in the ...

world), Theatre Bizarre has been offering progressively grander and more decadent events to those lucky enough to get a ticket. In late October each year, thousands of elaborately-clad and eager attendees fill the carved stone hallways of the labyrinthine tower as they move throughout the night from one indescribable performance to another. Detroit’s most adventurous souls slipping anonymously past each other as they celebrate their darkest selves into the early hours of the morning. It’s proven to be a very popular formula. In fact, the biggest challenge facing Theatre Bizarre has always been capacity. And now, they’ve solved the problem in grand style.

The Grand Preview Gala offers a whole new, far more intimate Theatre Bizarre experience. With just a few hundred attendees (as opposed to the thousands that attend the main event) the night is an elegant affair with an open bar, strolling dinner and valet parking included in the price of admission. Gala guests will enjoy selected performances from past shows, highlights from this year’s show, and exclusive sets created especially for that night only. Costumed attendees will follow a trail of fire-eaters, burlesque performers and musical acts as they follow the evening’s path through the historic site.

“The event is based on a world we have created over the years,” explains Theatre Bizarre’s creative lead, John Dunivant. “What started out as a backyard party with a bunch of friends has turned into a critically-acclaimed, enveloping production that has been referred to as a “cultural institution by the Miami Foundation. We have also received grants from the Kresge Foundation, the Knights Foundation and others. We will honor these grants and recognition and continue to push forward to create a new and immersive experience unlike anything else in the world.”

In 2017, Theatre Bizarre will open its dark portal for two weekends. Two consecutive Fridays will play host to an exclusive Gala Masquerade on Friday, October 13th and 20thand The Historic Event will be held on Saturdays, October 14th and 21, 2017 at The Masonic Temple at 500 Temple Street in downtown Detroit. Doors for each event open at 6:30pm. Dinner, drinks and valet parking are included in the cost of admission for The Select Preview Gala. Food and drinks will be available for purchase at The Procession. All attendees must be 21 years of age or older. Costumes are mandatory.

In the autumn of 2010, things were going great. An outlaw group of friends had built a towering theme park in a neglected corner of Detroit (complete with a roller coaster, ferris wheel, flame throwers, etc.) and were gearing up for the big event. Then the governor of the state of Michigan checked Facebook one day and asked, “Whatis that?”

The “that” in question was Theatre Bizarre, the dream of painter John Dunivant...

M-live, Photo, 10/17/2016, See the strange, the odd and the creepy from Theatre Bizarre 2016

The Talkhouse, Article, 10/13/2016, David J (M.C. Nightshade, Bauhaus, Love and Rockets) Shows Us How to Carpe Noctem The musician/author takes us inside his creeptastic new record with the Theatre Bizarre Orchestra.
Text

In the autumn of 2010, things were going great. An outlaw group of friends had built a towering theme park in a neglected corner of Detroit (complete with a roller coaster, ferris wheel, flame throwers, etc.) and were gearing up for the big event. Then Michigan's governor checked Facebook one day and asked, “What is that?”
MORE»More»

Two weekends October 13-14 and October 20-21

In the autumn of 2010, things were going great. An outlaw group of friends had built a towering theme park in a neglected corner of Detroit (complete with a roller coaster, ferris wheel, flame throwers, etc.) and were gearing up for the big event. Then the governor of the state of Michigan checked Facebook one day and asked, “Whatis that?”

The “that” in question was Theatre Bizarre, the dream of painter John Dunivant and a crew of like-minded artists and performers, built from scraps and memories of sideshows long gone, spanning an entire derelict and deadly block on the city’s northern border. For one night each year, they threw open the gates to another world, where clowns torment demons, burlesque dancers twist in tornadoes of fire, and everyone sheds their drab, daily skin to revel in the fantastical.

It was, in a word, magic. It was also entirely illegal. As soon as Jennifer Granholm, Michigan’s governor at the time, stumbled on the event, she had little choice. Within hours, city and state officials (as well as a heavily-armed SWAT team) shuttered what many have called “The Greatest Masquerade on Earth.” The show hastily moved to another venue (as The New York Times noted) and continued to thrive in Detroit’s Masonic Temple (the largest in the world). It could easily contend for the title of world’s largest immersive art installation as they use over 250,000 square feet.

In 2017, for the second straight year in its storied history, Theatre Bizarre will open its dark portal for “The Fortuitous Unfortunates,” two weekends of immersive, intense performance experiences. Two consecutive Fridays in October (the 13th and 20th) will play host to an exclusive Gala Masquerade, where revelers will enjoy an open bar, strolling gourmet dinner, valet parking and a unique tour of highlights from the event including performances by Roxi D’Lite, Messer Chups, The Theatre Bizarre Orchestra (The group’s Carpe Noctem was nominated for best jazz album in last year’s Detroit Music Awards) and so many more. Saturdays (the 14th and 21st) will see a 9-hour marathon of nonstop debauchery spread out over 8 floors, including the Odditorium sideshow stage.

The Temple is transformed on a grand scale, complete with a Victorian ice cream parlor serving liquor-infused treats; a cinema offering vintage international erotica and horror; and a wild “Ghost Train” ride that takes place in the dark on the seventh floor. There are six main stages with over 20 bands (bands ranging in styles from punk rock to a barbershop quartette, a marching band, a Jazz trio, jug bands, rock and roll, and more), two dozen performance spaces, two grand ballrooms, dozens of strolling and aerial performers, burlesque stars from around the globe, suspension artists, vaudeville, carnival games, and countless other sensory delights combine to ensure that partygoers never, ever have a dull moment. Every hallway, every lobby can become an impromptu theatrical experience, this is truly a choose-your-own-adventure that has to be seen to be believed.

There is nothing else like it on earth.

{full story below}

In the late 90s, painter John Dunivant was struggling to find his voice as an artist. He didn’t have any trouble, however, devoting himself to breathtaking, elaborate Halloween parties. One, the one that nearly got him kicked out of his loft, involved 500 trees, forest trails, and a full-sized cabin.

In search of a new venue, he joined forces with friends and fellow party-throwers, and began building on multiple lots in a very rough neighborhood. “I was interested in old sideshows. Which was going to be the theme for just the year, but it stuck,” recalls Dunivant. “I began to develop stories and worlds based on that. I created my own visual laws, backstories, different elements that honed the whole thing.”

The whole thing--complete with theme-park rides and multi-story set pieces--thrived for ten years in the shadows, all on volunteer power. The blight that has plagued Detroit gave the collective the space to keep creating, even as bullets flew and firebombs hit nearby hulks of abandoned houses.

“There is no other place in the world where we could have gotten away with what we were doing. We had the opportunity to build on our creation for ten years because the area was so neglected. It was a war zone with drug deals gone wrong and gunfire every day, all day,” says Dunivant. “The only reason we could grow was, as things intensified, houses around our lots burned down. We’d expand into where the empty houses once stood, fence it in, and keep going.”

Social media brought the peculiar art project crashing down, as the authorities came to call hours before the party in 2010. The setback was devastating, but temporary, as the collective behind Theatre Bizarre regrouped.

The second life of Theatre Bizarre came with challenges--how to create the same kind of immersive environment in an old building with fire codes and historic covenants, installing and tearing down each year--but this spurred Dunivant and his collaborators to an even deeper, lusher exploration of the world they had made, an approach that won the collective support from both The Knight Foundation and Kresge Foundation

The guiding aesthetic paved the way: the color palette, the scale designed to overwhelm, the mix of charm and revolt, of decadence and decay. But now another layer was added, that of the Secret Society, of magic and the occult. The decadence was taken to another level.

“I was originally inspired by 1930s penny arcade dioramas, although I wanted to blow these miniatures up to a grand scale. To walk around in the models, and lose yourself in a maze,” relates Dunivant. “I studied architecture, and as part of that, I documented some of Detroit’s crumbling churches. The psychological design of the cathedrals was meant to mess with your head, to make you look up and feel humbled. We’re harnessing the same effect: Everything looms, and you have to stand on your tiptoes at times.” To embody this feeling (and literally capture the collective’s past), Theatre Bizarre has crafted massive dioramas of the old grounds, several yards high, complete with quirky mechanisms.” explains Dunivant. “It’s bringing things full circle.”

This model is teeming with life, with a cast of characters--clowns, devils, and gods--that Theatre Bizarre continues to expand and elaborate. Dunivant has developed very specific rules to guide this creation: “Gods make creations out of clay and simple materials stuck together, then given life. These characters evoke that,” says Dunivant. “Our performers wear outfits that are crude and simple, with oversized stitching, tattered around the edges, and with a limited color palette. They are meant to be like the figurines in this penny arcade.” The clowns and devils often duke it out, and control their own special territories over Theatre Bizarre’s eight floors.

Though Dunivant has been the creative driving force behind the project, Theatre Bizarre has taken on a life of its own. More and more regular performers inhabit characters, creating their own costumes, stories, and death-defying acts (like walking a flaming tightrope suspended by hooks in the flesh of two suspension artists). “It’s become more collaborative. They are using their strengths to create characters that amplify this world,” Dunivant says. “yet still intertwining with these basic laws.”

One law that all abide by: A total commitment to the cause of creating this uncanny spectacle each year, and a rejection of corporate sponsorship. Theatre Bizarre’s dedicated crew camp out for weeks ahead of time at the Temple, sleeping on air mattresses and barely leaving the building. “The core group of people take off work, leave their families, and live in a musty, crazy old building. It’s amazing to see these things come together. In theory, none of what we’re doing should work,” remarks Dunivant.

And now, some of Detroit’s most established organizations are rewarding Theatre Bizarre for their cultural and artistic contributions. They’ve also taken up permanent residence at the Detroit Historical Museum, cementing their place in the timeline of Detroit’s history.

Theatre Bizarre will open its dark portal for two weekends of immersive, intense performance experiences. Two consecutive Fridays in October (14th & 21st) will play host to an exclusive Gala Masquerade and Saturdays (15th & 22nd) will see a 9-hour marathon of nonstop debauchery spread out over 8 floors.
MORE»More»

Now two weekends October 14-15 and October 21-22

In the autumn of 2010, things were going great. An outlaw group of friends had built a towering theme park in a neglected corner of Detroit (complete with a roller coaster, ferris wheel, flame throwers, etc.) and were gearing up for the big event. Then the governor of the state of Michigan checked Facebook one day and asked, “Whatis that?”

The “that” in question was Theatre Bizarre, the dream of painter John Dunivant and a crew of like-minded artists and performers, built from scraps and memories of sideshows long gone, spanning an entire derelict and deadly block on the city’s northern border. For one night each year, they threw open the gates to another world, where clowns torment demons, burlesque dancers twist in tornadoes of fire, and everyone sheds their drab, daily skin to revel in the fantastical.

It was, in a word, magic. It was also entirely illegal. As soon as Jennifer Granholm, Michigan’s governor at the time, stumbled on the event, she had little choice. Within hours, city and state officials (as well as a heavily-armed SWAT team) shuttered what many have called “The Greatest Masquerade on Earth.” The show hastily moved to another venue (as The New York Times noted) and continued to thrive in Detroit’s Masonic Temple (the largest in the world). It could easily contend for the title of world’s largest immersive art installation as they use over 250,000 square feet.

In 2016, for the first time in its storied history, Theatre Bizarre will open its dark portal for two weekends of immersive, intense performance experiences. Two consecutive Fridays in October (the 14th and 21st) will play host to an exclusive Gala Masquerade, where revelers will enjoy an open bar, strolling gourmet dinner, valet parking and a unique tour of highlights from the event including performances by David J of Bauhaus and the Theatre Bizarre Orchestra. Saturdays (the 15th and 22nd) will see a 9-hour marathon of nonstop debauchery spread out over 8 floors.

The Temple is transformed on a grand scale, complete with a Victorian ice cream parlor serving liquor-infused treats; a cinema offering vintage international erotica and horror; and a wild “Ghost Train” ride that takes place in the dark on the seventh floor. There are five stages with 20 bands, two dozen performance spaces, two grand ballrooms, dozens of strolling and aerial performers, burlesque stars from around the globe, carnival games, and countless other sensory delights combine to ensure that partygoers never, ever have a dull moment. Every hallway, every lobby can become an impromptu theatrical experience, this is truly a choose-your-own-adventure that has to be seen to be believed.

{full story below}

In the late 90s, painter John Dunivant was struggling to find his voice as an artist. He didn’t have any trouble, however, devoting himself to breathtaking, elaborate Halloween parties. One, the one that nearly got him kicked out of his loft, involved 500 trees, forest trails, and a full-sized cabin.

In search of a new venue, he joined forces with friends and fellow party-throwers , and began building on an abandoned lot in a very rough neighborhood. “I was interested in old sideshows. It was going to be a theme for the year, but it stuck,” recalls Dunivant. “I began to create stories and worlds based on that. I created my own visual laws, backstories, different elements that honed the whole thing.”

The whole thing--complete with theme-park rides and multi-story set pieces--thrived for ten years in the shadows, all on volunteer power. The blight that has plagued Detroit gave the collective the space to keep creating, even as bullets flew and firebombs hit nearby hulks of abandoned houses.

“There is no other place in the world where we could have gotten away with what we were doing. You usually can hit a place up once with street art, but we had the opportunity to build on our creation for ten years. The area was so neglected. It was a war zone with drug deals gone wrong and gunfire every day, all day,” says Dunivant. “The only reason we could grow, as things intensified, was that houses around our lot burned down. We’d expand into where the empty houses once stood.”

Social media brought the peculiar art project crashing down, as the authorities came to call days before the party in 2010. The setback was devastating, but temporary, as the collective behind Theatre Bizarre regrouped.

The second life of Theatre Bizarre came with challenges--how to create the same kind of immersive environment in an old building with fire codes and historic covenants, installing and tearing down each year--but this spurred Dunivant and his collaborators to an even deeper, lusher exploration of the world they had made, an approach that won the collective support from both The Knight Foundation and Kresge Foundation

The guiding aesthetic remained the same: the color palette, the scale designed to overwhelm, the mix of charm and revolt, of decadence and decay. “I was originally inspired by 1930s penny arcade dioramas, but I wanted to blow these miniatures up to a grand scale. I’m a tall person so I wanted to make everything extra tall,” relates Dunivant. “I studied architecture, and as part of that, I documented some of Detroit’s crumbling churches. The psychological design of the cathedrals was meant to mess with your head, to make you look up and feel humbled. We’re harnessing the same effect: Everything looms, and you have to stand on your tiptoes.” To embody this feeling (and capture the collective’s past), Theatre Bizarre has crafted massive dioramas of the old grounds, several yards high, complete with quirky mechanisms. “It’s like walking around in a model,” explains Dunivant. “It’s bringing things full circle.”

This model is teeming with life, with a cast of characters--clowns, devils, and gods--that Theatre Bizarre continues to expand and elaborate. Dunivant has developed very specific rules to guide this creation: “Gods make creations out of clay, simple materials stuck together, and give them life. These characters evoke that,” says Dunivant. “Their outfits are crude and simple, with oversized stitching, tattered around the edges, and with a limited color palatte. They are meant to be like the figurines in this penny arcade.” The clowns and devils often duke it out, and control their own special territories over Theatre Bizarre’s eight floors.

Though Dunivant has been the creative driving force behind the project, Theatre Bizarre has taken on a life of its own. More and more regular performers inhabit characters, creating their own costumes, stories, and death-defying acts (like walking a flaming tightrope suspended by hooks in the flesh of two suspension artists). “It’s become more collaborative. They are using their strengths to create characters that amplify this world,” Dunivant says. “They are still pulled from these basic laws.”

One law that all abide by: A total commitment to the cause of creating this uncanny spectacle each year, and a rejection of corporate sponsorship. Theatre Bizarre’s dedicated crew camp out for weeks ahead of time at the Temple, sleeping on air mattresses and barely leaving the building. “The core group of people take off work, leave their families, and live in a musty, crazy old building. It’s amazing to see these things come together. In theory, none of what we’re doing should work,” remarks Dunivant.

M. C. Nightshade (AKA David J of Bauhaus / Love and Rockets) fronts the amazing twelve-piece psych-swing jazz band that is the Theatre Bizarre Orchestra. The album, Carpe Noctem, is a haunting evocation of the spirit of Detroit’s spectacular annual Theatre Bizarre event which takes place at the Masonic Temple.
MORE»More»

M. C. Nightshade (AKA David J of Bauhaus / Love and Rockets) fronts the amazing twelve-piece psych-swing jazz band that is the Theatre Bizarre Orchestra. The album, Carpe Noctem (Hold Fast, release date: October 13, 2016) is a haunting evocation of the spirit of Detroit’s spectacular annual Theatre Bizarre event which takes place at the vast and mysterious Masonic Temple in that dirty old town and of the shadow side of carnival, vaudeville, and circus.

The genesis for this project occurred when David J was in attendance at the 2014 Theatre Bizarre Gala event and performed a spontaneous rendition of Bauhaus' classic, “Bela Lugosi's Dead,” with the award winning nine-piece jazz ensemble, Planet D Nonet (which has now mutated into the Theatre Bizarre Orchestra). In this unique take on the song, Bela Lugosi meets up with Cab Calloway's Minnie the Moocher for a delirious sojourn down in Chinatown where they inevitably end up “kicking the gong around.”

Recorded at Detroit’s celebrated Tempermill Studio with seasoned engineer David Feeny (Jack White / Loretta Lynn) and working closely with the talented arranger, band leader, saxophonist, and clarinetist Joshua James, David J and company have managed to capture the off kilter essence of Bacchanalian abandon, twisted circus, and dark carnival associated with Theatre Bizarre.

Carpe Noctem comes to you from Hold Fast, a vinyl-only, limited edition record label based in Detroit, and is available in two editions. The Step Right Up, Try Your Luck Edition includes a 12-inch LP in a gatefold sleeve and purchasers will have a 1 in 4 chance of receiving the free bonus 7-inch featuring a new arrangement of Bauhaus’ goth rock classic, “Bela Lugosi’s Dead.” The Deluxe Edition includes the 12-inch, a guaranteed free 7-inch of “Bela Lugosi’s Dead,” a special limited edition art print by John Dunivant, creator/designer of Theatre Bizarre, and is signed by David J, John Dunivant, and Joshua James, leader of the Theatre Bizarre Orchestra.

“There’s a cackle in the rustle of the autumn leaves, something wicked this way weaves!”
- ‘When Zombo Comes To Town’

M. C. Nightshade (AKA David J of Bauhaus / Love and Rockets) fronts the amazing twelve-piece psych-swing jazz band that is the Theatre Bizarre Orchestra. The album, Carpe Noctem, is a haunting evocation of the spirit of Detroit’s spectacular annual Theatre Bizarre event which takes place at the Masonic Temple.
MORE»More»

M. C. Nightshade (AKA David J of Bauhaus / Love and Rockets) fronts the amazing twelve-piece psych-swing jazz band that is the Theatre Bizarre Orchestra. The album, Carpe Noctem (Hold Fast, release date: October 13, 2016) is a haunting evocation of the spirit of Detroit’s spectacular annual Theatre Bizarre event which takes place at the vast and mysterious Masonic Temple in that dirty old town and of the shadow side of carnival, vaudeville, and circus.

The genesis for this project occurred when David J was in attendance at the 2014 Theatre Bizarre Gala event and performed a spontaneous rendition of Bauhaus' classic, “Bela Lugosi's Dead,” with the award winning nine-piece jazz ensemble, Planet D Nonet (which has now mutated into the Theatre Bizarre Orchestra). In this unique take on the song, Bela Lugosi meets up with Cab Calloway's Minnie the Moocher for a delirious sojourn down in Chinatown where they inevitably end up “kicking the gong around.”

Recorded at Detroit’s celebrated Tempermill Studio with seasoned engineer David Feeny (Jack White / Loretta Lynn) and working closely with the talented arranger, band leader, saxophonist, and clarinetist Joshua James, David J and company have managed to capture the off kilter essence of Bacchanalian abandon, twisted circus, and dark carnival associated with Theatre Bizarre.

Carpe Noctem comes to you from Hold Fast, a vinyl-only, limited edition record label based in Detroit, and is available in two editions. The Step Right Up, Try Your Luck Edition includes a 12-inch LP in a gatefold sleeve and purchasers will have a 1 in 4 chance of receiving the free bonus 7-inch featuring a new arrangement of Bauhaus’ goth rock classic, “Bela Lugosi’s Dead.” The Deluxe Edition includes the 12-inch, a guaranteed free 7-inch of “Bela Lugosi’s Dead,” a special limited edition art print by John Dunivant, creator/designer of Theatre Bizarre, and is signed by David J, John Dunivant, and Joshua James, leader of the Theatre Bizarre Orchestra.

“There’s a cackle in the rustle of the autumn leaves, something wicked this way weaves!”
- ‘When Zombo Comes To Town’

Event

10/13/2016

08/26/2016, David J and the Theatre Bizarre Orchestra Headline Two Sensory-Altering Weekends at Theatre Bizarre 2016

Theatre Bizarre will open its dark portal for two weekends of immersive, intense performance experiences. Two consecutive Fridays in October (the 14th and 21st) will play host to an exclusive Gala Masquerade and Saturdays (the 15th and 22nd) will see a 9-hour marathon spread out over 8 floors.
MORE»More»

In 2016, for the first time in its storied history, Theatre Bizarre will open its dark portal for two weekends of immersive, intense performance experiences. Two consecutive Fridays in October (the 14th and 21st) will play host to an exclusive Gala Masquerade, where revelers will enjoy an open bar, strolling gourmet dinner, valet parking and a unique tour of highlights from the event including performances by David J of Bauhaus and the Theatre Bizarre Orchestra. Saturdays (the 15th and 22nd) will see a 9-hour marathon spread out over 8 floors.

There are five stages with 20 bands, two dozen performance spaces, two grand ballrooms, dozens of strolling and aerial performers, burlesque stars from around the globe, carnival games, and countless other sensory delights that combine to ensure that partygoers never have a dull moment.